You may have a vision for your retirement plan, but does your spouse share that vision?

A recent study by Fidelity Investments shows that many couples are not in accord about their retirement plan. For example, one-third of couples approaching retirement disagree about or don’t know where they are going to live after they retire, and 62 percent don’t agree on their expected retirement ages.

Here are some important things to discuss with your spouse as you get ready retire and develop a retirement plan:

1. When to stop working. Many factors go into a decision about when to retire, including job enjoyment and financial needs. But you’ll also want to include in your retirement plan how to maximize your Social Security benefits. There are a number of different strategies for when each spouse should file for various types of benefits, and couples who do it wrong can leave a lot of money on the table.

2. Finances.Both spouses need to understand their financial situation to develop a retirement plan. The survey found that very often, one spouse is much less involved in planning retirement finances than the other, and might not be ready to manage financial affairs should the need arise.

3. Lifestyle. Do you want to travel? Volunteer? Or relax on a beach somewhere? It’s important to have a conversation about your hopes and dreams for retirement. You can start by creating individual wish lists and then comparing them when developing your retirement plan.

4. Health care. Make sure you and your spouse have adequate health care coverage, either from Medicare or an employer-based plan. You’ll also need to understand the rules regarding Medicare coverage and when to sign up for it.

5. Long-term care. Unfortunately, one or both spouses will likely need some type of long-term care at some point. There are things you can do to make it easier on yourself if the need arises. Talk to your elder law attorney about putting a plan together – doing it early will save lots of headaches and expense later.

Hopefully your respective visions for your post-career life are similar. When you’ve taken these steps, it’s now time to put your dream plans in motion. To ensure that your long-term care plans for retirement are met, it’s vital that you speak with a qualified elder law and estate planning attorney so your wishes are always met.

If you, or a loved one, depend on Medicare for ongoing care of a chronic or degenerative disease, you may be familiar with the Medicare Improvement Standard.

Medicare is health national insurance for people over age 65, the disabled, or those with end stage renal disease. For decades, the Medicare Improvement Standard meant that coverage for physical, occupational and speech therapy and some inpatient skilled nursing was denied by contractors processing claims for many people who had reached a plateau in their treatment, that is to say, for those who were not improving.

Medicare is supposed to pay for reasonable treatment as long as a doctor has prescribed it. For in-home care, a doctor must have certified that you are, in fact, homebound and have prescribed treatment that only a skilled practitioner can provide. This “skilled practitioner rule” keeps Medicare from paying for assistance with everyday activities like bathing and dressing.

Consider the case of Glenda, she is 76 and rendered disabled by diabetes. She is both blind and has suffered amputation of a leg and several toes. She was the lead plaintiff in the case that led to the settlement, and under the Medicare Improvement Standard, had been denied coverage of the skilled care she needed due to the fact that her condition was chronic and did not improve. This unofficial policy has been frustrating to many. It is often painfully obvious that those suffering chronic or degenerative diseases will not and cannot improve. But, the kind of skilled care covered by the Medicare Improvement Standard settlement can stabilize or slow the progression of such diseases. These patients can now prevent painful and costly complications.

The Medicare Improvement Standard settlement requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to clarify to their contractors that home and nursing home therapy and nursing services for Medicare beneficiaries are not dependent “on the presence or absence of a beneficiary’s potential for improvement from the therapy (and nursing care), but rather on the beneficiary’s need for skilled care.” This language also pertains to outpatient therapy services. This clarified policy is know as the “maintenance coverage standard.”

The Center for Medicare Advocacy, co-counsel for the Plaintiffs, stresses that the new standard applies now, and that Medicare patients denied coverage under the old “medicare improvement standard” should advocate for themselves and appeal those denials.

It is important to remember that this Medicare Improvement Standard settlement does not affect the need for long-term care planning. Without careful planning you may still have to pay for years in a nursing home when you can no longer handle basic tasks of daily living and staying in your home is no longer practical.

If you, or a loved one, would like more information about long-term care planning contact us. Proficient in Estate Planning, Elder Law and Long-Term Care/Medicaid (MassHealth) Planning, Attorney Kristina Vickstrom can help you understand your rights and any remedies that may be available to you.

The annual gift tax exemption in Massachusetts has been increased to $14,000 in 2013, up from $13,000 last year. That’s due to an adjustment for inflation.

This means that you can give any person $14,000 this year without any gift tax liability at all. Making annual gifts of the exemption amount is one of the best and easiest forms of estate planning, because it transfers assets from one generation to the next without any tax liability whatsoever.

If you have multiple heirs, the amount you can give away tax-free multiplies quickly. For instance, if you have two children, and each child is married and has two children, you can give $14,000 to each child, spouse and grandchild. That’s eight recipients at $14,000 each, or a potential maximum gift of $112,000 a year. If your spouse gave an additional $14,000 to each recipient, that would be $224,000.

Of course, very few people can afford to make gifts of this magnitude. But if you’re thinking about making gifts to children and grandchildren, regardless of the size, you might want to consider setting up a trust for your beneficiaries – especially if they are young. There are many practical as well as tax benefits to making gifts by means of a trust, and doing so can further increase the value of your gifts.

In a major change, the federal government has agreed to provide seniors who have chronic illnesses and disabilities with Medicare coverage for many services … even if those services will simply maintain the person’s present health status and aren’t likely to improve their condition.

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Law as President Harry Truman looks on

This is very important news for people who have diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, arthritis, or the effects of a stroke, among other medical conditions.

Soon, these seniors may be able to obtain Medicare coverage for care in a skilled nursing facility, as well as home health care and outpatient therapy.

For decades, Medicare had a “rule of thumb” that coverage for these services was available only if they were likely to lead to an improvement in the patient’s condition. This resulted in many people with chronic illnesses being unable to obtain coverage for treatments that were critical to maintaining their health, but that didn’t promise a cure or improvement.

According to the government, treatments that weren’t likely to lead to improvement were considered “custodial care,” which Medicare doesn’t cover.

But in January 2011, a group of seniors and some elder advocacy groups brought a nationwide class action lawsuit against the government. They argued that this policy violated their rights, because the “rule of thumb” against covering such services never actually appeared anywhere in the Medicare laws.

The government tried to have the case thrown out, but recently a federal judge rejected that request and allowed it to proceed. Shortly afterward, the government agreed to settle the case by expanding Medicare coverage.

The settlement is being reviewed by the court, and it’s still unclear exactly when the policy change will go into effect. It’s also unclear whether the change will apply just to future claims or to claims going all the way back to January 2011.

Under the terms of the settlement, patients who have “plateaued” in their treatment but still need the assistance of a skilled professional such as a nurse or therapist will be eligible for all of Medicare’s standard benefits. Seniors who are enrolled in Part A, which covers hospitalizations, will be eligible for up to 100 days in a skilled nursing facility (as long as it follows a three-day hospitalization), as well as up to 100 home visits following a hospitalization. Seniors who are enrolled in Part B, which covers doctor visits and other outpatient services, are eligible for potentially unlimited home visits.

It’s not completely clear to what extent the new policy will increase Medicare coverage for dementia. Many seniors with dementia simply need custodial care – unskilled help with routine activities of daily living such as eating, dressing, and bathing – and this kind of unskilled care wouldn’t be covered under the settlement.

However, if the services of a skilled professional might delay the progress of dementia, then those services might be covered. For example, Medicare might now cover occupational therapists who specialize in helping dementia sufferers.

In addition, Medicare might also begin covering speech therapists who teach stroke and Parkinson’s patients how to regain their communications skills. If you’d like to discuss all the ways Medicare is available to cover your or a loved one’s health issues, contact Attorney Kristina Vickstrom today at 508-757-3800.

Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light,” is best known for his works of beautiful cottages, villages and churches – paintings of idyllic country life. In April of this year Kinkade died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and valium. The Kinkade estate battle that has transpired since then has not been beautiful country life. [Read more…]

Massachusetts was recently struck by Hurricane Sandy, as was most of the east coast. We did pretty well here in Worcester and our hearts are with those who fared much worse than us in New York and New Jersey among other places.

Watching the devastation on television made me take action on two fronts, one: donate money to the Red Cross, and two: make sure my financial house was as ready for an emergency as my physical house was.

Here in Massachusetts we’re preparing for the snow storm season, so it is never too late to start.

For an emergency like the one the east coast just experienced experts recommend, among other things water and food to last about three days, cash and a tank full of gas (http://www.redcross.org/prepare).

What about our financial house? Let’s start with the most immediate needs and think about what should go into an emergency financial kit:

1. Access to cash in an emergency

Keep information about all the accounts that could give you access to cash, this includes checking, savings, money market, and even home equity accounts. You will need the account numbers and contact information for the financial institution. Most often, a copy of a statement will have all the information you need.

You should also consider including a copy of all your credit and debit cards, both front and back. This will give you the information you need to pay in some cases, or to contact the institution should you need to.

2. Medical Information and Caregivers

Your emergency financial kit should also include information about your preferred medical providers. Having their contact information can ensure you are treated by your preferred provider in an emergency, and in some cases, save you money.

3. Insurance Information

Make copies of ALL your insurance cards. Home, car, medical, dental and prescription. If your home or vehicle are damaged, the insurance information in there may be damaged as well, also, if you end up having to evacuate and leave your home or vehicle, you will not want to return just to retrieve these.

Also make sure you have the contact information for your insurance company and agent. Often in an emergency where companies are swamped with requests, your agent can help you get through or connect you to other resources available to you.

4. Longer Term Investments

Your emergency financial kit should also include copies of paperwork documenting your investments accounts. Your investment accounts include IRA, 401(k), stocks, bonds, 529, or any other retirement or long-term savings account. Also include the contact information for any financial planner or planners who manage these accounts for you.

5. Your Estate Planning Documents

Your Will, Health Care Proxy, and Power of Attorneyshould always be in a safe place, but especially in an emergency. You should place your paperwork in your emergency financial kit, or the information on how to access them, whether they are with your attorney or a safety deposit box etc…

6. Accessing Your Financial Information online

If all the information for accessing you finances and any other important sites are safely locked away in your memory, you may want to consider including the websites and passwords in your emergency kit, or if you do not feel safe carrying that around, you can provide them to a trusted person who is out of harm’s way. This will allow your family to access important information or funds if you are incapacitated, or simply incommunicado.

With the winter upon us here in Massachusetts, and with the painful lessons the Northeast just learned fresh in our memories, now is a great time to look at your emergency plan. If you have not done much in the way of financial or estate planning, now is a good time to think about that as well, and whether your family would be protected in the worst-case-scenario. Call us to discuss your planning and the best way to protect your family in an emergency.